The natural world. Looking pretty for 3.5b years.

Need Nature Conservation? Call in the Kids!

You've probably never heard of Nagaland, a remote district in the far northeastern corner of India, but an amazing thing is happening there. School kids have banded together to stop the slaughter of the Amur Falcon during the birds annual migration from Siberia to southern Africa. The birds flight path crosses their mountainous landscape eating locusts and damaging insects all along their long route.

The falcon slaughter takes place during the birds annual trek to wintering ranges in southern Africa and is made easier by their habit of roosting in vast gatherings, not dis-similar to the now-extinct North American passenger pigeons that numbered in the billions in the mid-19th Century, where they become easy prey for hunters. A video from Conservation India tells their sad story:

The fate of Amur falcons could have followed the same story as the pigeons until kids in Nagaland forced the hunters to stop their netting.

Nagaland Eco-club Ambassadors, Nagaland (credit: Conservation India)

According to Conservation India the falcon slaughter in 2014 was virtually eliminated:

"the Nagaland Wildlife & Biodiversity Conservation Trust (NWBCT), one of the NGOs spearheading the conservation activity, expanded its education programme and community outreach through their Eco-clubs targeting school children. The clubs will target adults — hunters, students, Church leaders, and village council members---to spread the message of conservation within the community with its own people at the forefront."

So the important "take-home message" here is: if you need nature conservation...call on the kids!